The present invention relates to machines for handling and processing tubes preferably glass tubes. One aspect of the invention relates to flaring machines which flare one end of a length of glass tubing and then cut a relatively short length off of the flared end. The pieces so produced are typically referred to as flares and are used in the manufacture of fluorescent and incandescent lamps and other glass products such as cathode ray tube (CRT) necks.
Various designs for flare producing machines have been or are in use. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,077,095, shows a machine for producing flares wherein glass tubes are held in a circular array and brought by intermittent rotation into specific points about a circle at which points different operations. i.e. heating, advancing, flaring, and cutting are performed.
Another design for a flare producing machine is shown in a technical publication from BADALEX a Sale Tilney Company of Weybridge England. This machine includes a first horizontal turret adapted to hold 36 tubes and rotate continually. A second turret carrying 36 tube flaring tools rotates at the same velocity as the first turret. The tube cut-off device is stationary within the first turret and relies on the first turret to bring the flared tube into the cut-off position.
Still another design for a flare producing machine is shown in a technical brochure published by the FALMA Co. of Switzerland. In this design, short sections of pre-cut tube lengths are loaded into the flare forming machine. The machine includes a turret wherein the sections of tube are held vertically in chucks and indexed about a vertical axis into the positions at which the different operations are performed to produce the flares.